Bhagavad Ramanuja Vaibhavam- 1.10- Our nAthan- Sriman Nathamuni

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Let us continue to enjoy the acharya’s glories. In our tradition, Acharya is

equal to God if not more than Him. Next in our Acharya lineage is Swami Sri

nAthamuni…

 

LakshmI nAtha samArambhaam nAtha yAmuna madhyamAm..

Swamy Vedantha Desikan pays his obeisance to Sriman Nathamuni as follows:

 

nAthEna muninAthEna bhavEyam nathavan ahamam |

yasya naigamikam tatvam hastAmalakatam gatam ||

 

Sriman Nathamuni is the most benign master (Acharya ) for me. Sriman

Nathamuni indeed availed the good opportunity to perceive the true and

purport of Vedas, like a tiny amlaâ fruit on one’s palm (uLLan

nellikani).

 

Let me pay my humble obeisance to Sri Nathamuni by the folding of my palms.

 

Sriman NathamunigaL was born in 824 A.D in Aani anusham star, in

Kaattumannargudi, at Veeranarayanapuram near GangaikoNda chaozhapuram.

AzhwAr's paasurams (poems) called naalaayira divyap prabhandam composed by

twelve AzhwArs.

 

It was by divine grace of Sriman Narayanan that Sriman Naathamuni came to know

of the Tamil poems praising Lord Vishnu. It is believed that Sriman Naathamuni

heard some devotees visiting his home town singing a few (11) Tamil songs

starting with " aaraa amudhE adiyEn udalam " and ending with " ... kuruhoor

sadagOpan kuzhalil maliyach sonna Or AyiratthuL ippatthum, mazhalai theera

vallaar kaamar maanEy nOkkiyarkE. " (NammAzhwAr's Thiruvaaymozhi 5.8.1 - 5.8.11)

 

Sriman Nathamuni was greatly excited and enchanted with the exquisite

beauty of the poems. He approached the devotees and enquired about its

origin. The ending of the 11 poems, " aayiratthuL ippatthu, " (means this ten of

the thousand) suggested that there are many more such poems (may be thousand?).

 

Unfortunately, the devotees were unaware of any other poems besides the

eleven they had just finished reciting. However, they suggested to Sriman

Nathamuni that he may try enquiring in the town of thiruk kuruhoor, present day

AzhwAr thiru nagari near thirunelvEli. So he set out to travel from

kaattumannarkudi to thiruk kurugoor, where he found one paraangusa daasar.

 

From him, Sriman Nathamuni learnt 11 more paasurams called kaNNinuN

sirutthaambu. These were composed by Madhurakavi AzhwAr and all 11 paasurams are

in praise of kurugoor SatakOpan(NammAzhwAr).

 

Paraangusa daasar suggested that he repeatedly recite this great kaNNinuN

sirutthaambu (sung in praise of Sri Satakopan- NammAzhwAr) in the hope of

pleasing the Lord. Sriman Naathamuni took his advice sincerely and recited it

about 12,000 times for about three months without a break! It is said that

NammAzhwAr impressed with Sriman Nathamuni's persistence and devotion, acharya

bhakti, appeared before him.

 

NammAzhwAr revealed to Sriman Nathamuni not just the 1102 paasurams of his own

" thiruvaay mozhi " , but also all the rest of the paasurams composed by the other

eleven AzhwArs. Thus only because of Ssriman nathamuni, we are blessed with

AzhwArs srisukthis today.

 

Sriman nathamuni set these 4000 to tune and music and taught to Melai

agatthAzhwAn and Keezhai agatthAzhwAn (his nephews) and propagated the 4000 in

various Divya Desams. Nathamuni re arranged 4000 into four parts and introduced

the same as part of recitation in Divya Desams, as part of worship. Following

the teaching of NammAzhwar, Sri Nathamuni seems to have advocated the adoption

of Saranagati (self- surrender) as the means of salvation in place of rigorous

bhakti yogam, [which Sri Yamunacharya (Sri Alavandhar) followed and performed

his saranagati through his Chathusloki and Sthotra rathnam (tvadpaadha moolam

saraNam prapadyE) and subsequently by Ramanuja with his divine Gadya

thrayam. ]

 

Kaalam Valampurianna naRkkaathal adiyavarkku

TaaLam Vazhangit thamizh maRai INNISAI TANTHA VALLAL

MooLum tava neRi mootiya Naatha Muni KazhalE

nALum thozhuthezhuvOm namakkAr nihar nanilatthE

 

Let us prosrate at the lotus feet of Sriman nathamuni everyday. Who is equal to

us, (for being blessed with such greatest acharya sambandham)?

None, literally.

 

NathamunigaL is “the vaLLal who gave us the 4000 the insatiable nectar,

set to music..

 

Sri Nathmuni wrote two works: Nyaya tatvam and Yoga rahasyam.

 

Both are not extant. But Swamy Desikan and Ramanuja have referred to nyAya

tatvam in their works. Sri Alavandhar in his Athmasiddhi says, nyAyatatvam

is the most wonderful composition..

 

Sri Nathamuni ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan